Amersham Ruri-Decanal Conference: Important Subjects Discussed at Iver: The annual ruri-decanal conference for the deanery of Amersham was held at the Iver Schools, on Thursday last, at the invitation of the Rev. W. E. Gilliat, when a number of subjects of interest were discussed … … The Feeble-Minded: The Rev. G. H. Culshaw read the following paper on the care of the feeble-minded … (long discussion includes) … If anything I have said may lead us to think and may help us break the Puritan conspiracy of silence, I am more than thankful. I would like to make an earnest appeal to clergy and laity alike, to guardians and to members of education committees. To conclude with the words of Mrs. Hume Pinsent, one of the Royal Commissioners: “None can disagree with the main proposition of the Report, namely, that there should be one authority, endowed with sufficient posers to train and control the mentally defective. Let us sink all small differences and unite in asking for immediate legislation. It may safely be said that there is no other single measure at present before the public which would have such far-reaching and beneficial effects. The passing of the suggested Act for the Care and Control of the Mentally Defective would at once reduce drunkenness, crime, unchastity, illegitimate births, and disease; it would be the first preventative step in dealing with the great evil which threatens us with a steady deterioration of national efficient, both mental and moral.” …
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Referenced
GRO0245 Devonport: Ellen Frances Parker: 1866 – 1949